Andie watched Eric's face go blank. She had intended for her suggestion to sound purely innocent, but what if it came off too strong? What if he could hear her secret desire to know what a spanking would feel like? After all, that was the reason behind why she was so distracted in class... She could think of nothing else but receiving the same kind of reprimand that Morgan had.

Eric tried to speak; his mouth moved but no words formed. Andie shifted nervously in her seat.

"Why..." Eric began, his words slowly falling from his lips. "Why would you want that?"

Andie chewed on the inside of her cheek before answering. "It...it seems to help Morgan." She looked down at her hands while she answered. "And she and John have been closer because of it..."

Andie lifted her head after a moment of silence when no reply came from Eric. He was looking at her, his blue eyes intently focused on her's. He seemed to be mulling over the idea before asking: "so, you want us to be closer?"

Andie offered a nod.

"And you think...that...would help?"

Again, Andie nodded, with a slight hesitation this time before also saying: "I think so."

Eric's hand passed over his face before settling across his mouth. His eyes lowered and he fell into a deep thought.

It wasn't what he had in mind when he and Andie had sat down to discuss her incomplete assignments. Then again, he didn't have much in mind when he addressed her with his emotions in such a turmoil.

"If we were closer, you wouldn't lie to me?" he asked her, his voice gruffer than he intended it to be.

Blushing with regret, Andie offered another nod. "Yes," she spoke softly. "I'm sorry I did..."

"But why?" Eric demanded, dropping his hand from his face and addressing her head-on. "Why did you lie to me? You haven't answered that question yet."

"I..." Andie started quickly and then faltered, returning her attention to her hands in her lap and fiddling with her fingers with great anxiety. "I wanted your attention."

A baffled huff of hair escaped Eric's chest. "M-my attention? So, you did this on purpose?"

Tears welled in Andie's eyes as she nodded again.

"Andie, do you have any idea how angry that makes me?" Eric stood up and started to pace around the room, his agitation rising. "You could have just talked to me. We were doing better, at least I thought we were doing better. Weren't we?"

"Yes," Andie's voice cracked, and she ducked her head as far down as she could to hide her tears but Eric saw them anyway.

She looked so...helpless, and sorry, and Eric felt his anger dissipate greatly.

With a sigh, he returned to the couch and sat opposite from her. Leaning forward on his knees once again, he dropped his head and stared at his clasped hands.

"All of this to get my attention so that I would feel inclined to..." Eric trailed off and shook his head before starting again. "I don't think you understand what that is, Andie. John does that to Morgan to discipline her. It's a punishment. It's not meant to feel good."

"I know that," Andie answered quickly, her voice hoarse from her throat thickening as the desire to cry loomed just beneath the surface of her emotions.

"So, then, you want me to punish you?" Eric clarified firmly, and after a long moment of hesitation, Andie offered a small nod.

Eric stared at her for a significant amount of time, his feelings torn. He understood, in a way, why the idea of Eric disciplining Andie would appeal to her. It would give her everything she felt she was missing since her parents died: structure, guidence, attention, even care. And then there was the 'strength' that Scott Graham had mentioned; the thing that Andie needed...wanted.

But, could he pull it off?

Leaning back into the couch cushions, Eric crossed his arms and he remained that way for several minutes. The silence between them stretched and stretched while Eric weighed the pros and cons and while Andie went from being fidgety to becoming unusually still.

With his mind mostly made up, Eric looked up and saw Andie's expression and her lack of movement. She looked defeated. While his head was down she must have ridden out her anxieties and maybe even the humiliation she felt for asking for such a thing. And now defeat had laid its ugly hand on her shoulder and she felt the weight of it worse than any other weight she had experienced in the last several weeks.

"Alright," Eric spoke softly. Andie's head lifted, and her red eyes looked at Eric's, stunned. "If that's what you want, and if you think it will help, then we can try. But I'm not going to make it enjoyable, Andie. I need you to understand that. This is serious. You've been lying to me and I'm so upset with you for that. If this spanking is meant to serve as punishment, then I intend to make sure that it works and that you don't do something lke this again."

Lord, he sounded like such an ameteur as he held his finger out disapprovingly and lectured her on how he would discipline her. He felt ridiculous. He had never disciplined anyone before. He had no idea what he was doing.

But as far as Andie was concerned, he appeared stoic and confident and that's exactly what she needed.

After she nodded her head in acknowledgement to everything Eric had just said, Eric scooched to the edge of the couch.

"Alright... Let's give this a try." He motioned Andie over and on unsteady feet, she rose from the couch and approached her step-brother. He started to reach for her and then stopped. Is this how he was supposed to do it? Take her over his knee? Or was she too big for that? He wondered how John did it.

"How does John spank Morgan?"

"What do you mean?"

"Like... Where does he put her?"

"Oh. Um... Over his lap... I think."

Eric nodded. "Okay." He reached for Andie again and gently took her wrist in his hand. She complied, so he barely had to tug. Within seconds, she was draped across his lap. She wasn't too big at all. In fact, from this angle, she seemed incredibly small.

Eric could feel her quick breath as her ribs rose and fell against his left thigh. His right thigh cradled her hips, lifting her bottom for him.

He wouldn't show it, but God was he nervous. So, he took a moment to...acquaint himself. He spread his legs a little father apart, and that seemed to hold her better. It certainly positioned her bottom better; now it perched on his knee. He shifted her once by gently grasping her waist and moving her a little forward, and then back some. She gasped when he did that, and it made him pause momentarily before resuming.

Once he felt like he was more familiar with her body, he looked towards her backside and wondered how to proceed from here. She was wearing a pair of faded blue jeans today, and he didn't think she would be able to feel very much of a spanking with them on, but he decided almost immediately that he wouldn't remove them...not this time. If there was a next time, then he might.

"Alright. Are you ready?" he asked the back of Andie's head. She nodded and answered with a breathless "yes." He lifted his hand away from her body with the intention of delivering the first swat, but he felt like something was missing. An introduction to what was about to happen perhaps. "We're doing this because you lied. We're also doing it because...because you want us to be closer."

"Yes," Andie replied again, confirming everything he said.

"Alright."

And then, without further ado, he brought his hand heavily on her jean-clad backside. He heard a gasp and watched her tense for a moment before swatting her again. He expected Andie to yelp with each smack. Maybe he wasn't spanking correctly?

Turning his hand he looked at his palm which stung a little from the two smacks he had given her.

It had to be smarting a little, he told himself as he looked back to Andie's bottom and delivered another swat. A strained noise sounded in her throat and he started to feel satisfied that she was indeed feeling the effects of the spanking.

He developed a rhythm, focusing on the area just beneath her back pockets where there was less padding provided by her jeans. It also hurt his hand less to spank over the thinner material. But as he continued he decided that there wouldn't be any jeans next time. Without them he could probably shorten her spanking because she would feel more of it.

Nodding at the decision that would take place at a future time—maybe—Eric focused his attention on delivering a spanking that Andie wouldn't want to repeat anytime soon. It was when she started to shift and whine that he felt a sense of ease inside, as if he were finally getting to her.

He hoped this was what she wanted he thought to himself as he continued to discipline her despite her obvious discomfort. He didn't continue for much longer, however. She was breathless and her whines were coming more frequent, and her feet had kicked off the floor a few times.

When he stopped, Andie stilled over his lap. She breathed heavily as if she had just run a mile, and her hips occasionally shifted as if she were trying to soothe the burn in her bottom without actually rubbing it.

Eric was impressed that she hadn't reached back once. It told him that she truly did want this. Which didn't shock him any less than the fact that she had asked him for a spanking.

"Are you alright?" he asked her as he gently tugged her up by her elbow. She backed right into the couch cushion beside him as he helped her crawl from his lap.

Andie offered a nod and Eric got a good look at her face. Her eyes were a little red, and her cheeks were flushed.

"Did it hurt?"

"Yeah," Andie replied with another nod.

"Badly?" he asked, concerned that he had spanked her too hard.

"No, not too badly," she anwered softly, her head shaking.

Eric couldn't explain it, but he felt that he should comfort Andie. So, he leaned back into the couch cushions and pulled her with him. She didn't hesitate or resist. She followed him back as if she had expected nothing less.

As she molded to his chest, Eric felt like less of a brute. Even more so when her arm slipped around his neck.

It was the closest they had ever come to a hug.